What is the most fun thing you did at work recently? Whatever it is, it’s unlikely it included making a portrait of your colleagues, entirely out of Lego bricks. Have you played football while wearing virtual reality headsets? Or spent a recent meeting making a model of your current project in Lego bricks? When you get to work in the morning, is there a life-sized Darth Vader to greet you as you get out of the lift?
If the answer is “no” to all of these things, then you probably don’t work at Lego. The Danish toy giant, known for inspiring children all over the world to have fun and learn, while being creative, makes sure its values extend to its employees, who are encouraged to integrate work with playtime.
Anneke Beerkens, Lego’s senior workplace anthropologist, joined the company two years ago, having studied creative work and creativity for an anthropology PhD at the University of Amsterdam.
“My studies were all about how, in the new economy, we all have to be creative, and then I heard about the job at Lego – it seemed like the perfect match,” she says.
To encourage employees to think like children, one of the offices at the current HQ in Billund contains a slide instead of stairs, and a set of giant furniture, so people can climb on to the huge chairs in the same way we did as children and sit there with legs dangling.
The new Lego HQ in Billund – which is currently under construction – is expected to go even further, by “using storytelling in the design of the building to take you into the mind of a child”, says Beerkens playfully, refusing to reveal more about how that will manifest itself.
However, she does reveal the fact that there will be lots of features to make you feel like a child – from a fire pit to workshops, on everything from metal working to carpentry – to allow you to reconnect with the company’s core values and your inner child.
“We want to invite people to make use of these, as they will put them in the mind of a child, and our mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow,” she says.
It isn’t just about fun for fun’s sake, though, she adds. Even though “we are a toy company and our work should be about fun”, the main advantage of fun is that it can help productivity, wellbeing and stress-reduction. “If you were taken away from your emails for 10 minutes, you’d be sharper and twice as motivated once you’ve returned.”
Although some companies appear to encourage play, the important question is: would it be frowned upon if employees actually made use of that ping pong table? Lego works hard to make sure that play is accepted and actively encouraged.
“We don’t have a nine-to-five culture,” says Beerkens. “We’re very flexible in our time, as we want people to have a good work-life balance and to be able to work where and when they work best. Of course, you have to deliver, but it’s valued and applauded to do funny and playful things, and you certainly won’t get any weird looks for it – you’ll often see your manager doing exactly the same.”
Lego has Play Agents who are trained to show colleagues how to use Lego bricks in new and creative ways. So, for example, in a meeting about what kind of office you’d like to work in, people might build a demonstration in Lego – not just the physical surroundings, but more intangible aspects as well. “From explaining your designs, you’ll get a conversation going,’ says Beerkens.
One of the biggest days in Lego’s annual calendar is the Play Day – held on 7 September this year – on which all 17,000 employees around the world leave their factories and offices and spend a whole day just playing. David Moynihan, Lego’s global director for digital consumer engagement, spent the day in south London, doing a whole variety of activities such as go-karting, basketball and Lego brick challenges.
“Everyone from the most senior executive to the newest recruit takes part and it’s great fun,” says Moynihan. “We’re encouraged to tap into that sense of wonder and creativity, which builds trust and boosts morale – and to step aside from your day-to-day work and bond with people in a very social, creative and emotional way has a huge effect.”
As well as taking part in the annual Play Day, Moynihan’s team also has a monthly “Fabulab” day, designed to encourage employees to explore fun activities or topics they are passionate about.
“One Friday, we brought together teams from London and Slough, who hadn’t really met before, and then we built Lego portraits of each other,” he says. “It was great and a bit like speed-dating in the sense that you’re meeting someone new and finding out a lot about them. People really valued it – on the following Monday, they arrived feeling recharged.”
Moynihan is part of the creative team at Lego, which creates content across digital platforms such as Facebook and Instagram for parents seeking inspiration about playing with their children.
However, at Lego, play is for everyone. “Within the Lego offices, there’s always loads of Lego around and people are encouraged to build in meetings if they want to,” says Moynihan. There are also communal tables in offices where staff share the construction of new Lego products, such as the Lego Technic Bugatti Chiron.
“It’s a really advanced, technical build and when we get new sets like that it’s put on a table in the middle of the office with the instructions and everyone is encouraged to do a page or two,” says Moynihan. “It’s great because it’s super-collaborative and it ensures we remain in touch with new products.”
“As a society, we’re always telling children to grow up, but actually children have some of the most creative minds and sense of wonder, and we want them to retain the best elements of them being a child,” says Moynihan, who adds that encouraging play in the workplace isn’t something only Lego can do.
“Absolutely any company can do it,” he adds. “It’s interesting when we visit other company offices, and we often find they have a space dedicated to Lego. It means they also recognise the benefit of giving people the space and means to be creative.”
A day in the life of Lego executive David Moynihan
“On a typical day, we come in and start off by reviewing how our social media channels are performing, to identify any patterns and decide which direction we’re going in.
“Then we’ll do some content brainstorming to decide what kind of content we want to create next. I have a team of video specialists and content specialists and we create content in our studio weekly, which we post online across various social media platforms.
“We’ll also meet with stakeholders from across the company, such as the products groups, who create the toys, or the marketing team, who distribute the toys and are responsible for sales.
“I think play helps people to bond and work closer together. If people have that playful, positive state of mind, they carry that over into meetings and are more able to face challenges. And by adding play into daily work, you see a lot more smiles!”
